As negotiations for a three-year contract kicked off Wednesday, Jacksonville asked its firefighters to take another 1 percent pay cut — unless they wrap negotiations up quickly.

If the two sides can come to a deal by the end of March, city negotiators said, they will settle for leaving things basically as they are now.

Two years ago, the union agreed to a contract that included a 2 percent pay cut, with the proviso that the cut would be removed when the contract expires at the end of September.

The city’s initial offer Wednesday was a 3 percent cut, which would put it at parity with the recently agreed to police union contract and lower wages by 1 more percent. If a deal is signed soon, the city is offering a 2 percent cut, returning wages to where they are now.

The union is not opposed to reaching a deal quickly, said Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, but is going to take its time to do due diligence before responding.

“We can’t be rushed into anything,” he said. “We haven’t even thrown any of our proposals across the table.”

The 2010 negotiations with the fire union went down to the wire, with several firefighters being laid off after the membership initially rejected the 2 percent cuts. The contract was then tweaked — including the addition of a promise that no layoffs would be forthcoming — and accepted.

“Everyone understood and still does what Local 122 [the firefighters union] did for the city in 2010,” said city labor lawyer Derrel Chatmon. “We recognize that that concession was important to the administration then and is still important.”

That said, Chatmon said later the fiscal environment means the city can’t give that cut back. “That’s the clear current economic situation,” he said.

As it did during negotiations with police, the city is also asking the union to commit to returning to the table to discuss pension issues and other benefits at some point in the future. The fire union has steadfastly maintained that pension issues must be negotiated with the Police and Fire Pension Fund, but Chatmon said he’s not asking the union to agree to anything now. “I just want them to hear us out,” he said.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-02-16/story/city-wants-jack...